In Profile: Tony Bournemouth

On the London amateur comedy scene, there is a man who is a bit of a legend. Twenty years of unpaid gigs haven’t deterred his quest for stardom. Some say he’s the best comedian in Britain, others say he’s the worst. His name is Jimbo and he is making his Edinburgh Fringe debut as Tony Bournemouth, Bournemouth’s second-greatest entertainer.

Jimbo is a beloved figure on the circuit, even with people who can’t bear his jokes. “Yes, he makes you want to pull your own ears off,” said one internet commenter, “but all that adds to the charm.” Most people would quit after six months of this, so it must be real passion that keeps Jimbo plugging away.

“Not really,” he says. “It’s always just been something to get me out of the house."

The character of Tony Bournemouth was created by Jimbo at a stand-up course run by Chris Head, also the co-writer and director of the show. “Geoff Whiting [of comedy agency Mirth Control] had said he couldn’t see Jimbo getting a paid gig, so this character is a new start for me. There are gags you can get from Tony Bournemouth that you couldn’t get from Jimbo. You know, like jokes about Bournemouth.”

Head and Whiting are helping to produce the show in Edinburgh, but it must still be daunting to attempt a run at the Fringe. Jimbo admits he’s had a couple of hitches so far. “I was at a festival and there were a couple of thousand people there. I had a preview show coming up and I thought, 'Crikey, I’m going to miss a trick here, I better get some flyers done.' So I went to Staples and got about 2,000 flyers made to put around the campsite. And then, just as I was leaving, someone said, 'Do you know you haven’t put the date on those?' Out of thousands of flyers I must have got four people in. They cost a bit too. My wife went up the wall.”

So has he enjoyed the last 20 years? “I have. And if you ask me again in twenty years, I’ll give the same answer.”

He says he’s more confident than he’s ever been and promises that he’s going to give it everything he’s got during his run. It's going to be a great adventure for this determined amateur. At a time when comedy is becoming more mainstream, it's people like Tony Bournemouth who are the true spirit of the Fringe.